blasto, meet official opinions on self-replicating minions

[peterxy]

The PRT catches wind of a strange increase in disappeared domestic animals in the downtown area. Given that the people who live there are the rich and powerful, this is clearly a problem that needs to be investigated and solved immediately. The PRT, of course, agrees that this is of utmost importance, and not just because of precedent about mass abductions of pets, of course not, why would you think that, they are so very worried about Fido, even Scion recognizes the merits of rescuing lost pets.

(Lorica's asked to maybe keep a few more eyes there than she has been.)

Comments

[thinkering]

"Are your copies any good at composing emails if you're not thinking closely about it?"

[mxglam]

"They're good at anything I can do automatically or without planning much, or any very obvious actions I would take. They're... less good than your bots at being creative," they explain as the copy goes do that. "If I already have the email skeleton in mind, it's me enough to know how I'd phrase it and do that."

[thinkering]

"Fair enough."

[mxglam]

"Since I'm also expecting it to come here with the reply should it receive it in the next half hour, it'll do that." Pause. "I have no idea what it'll do while I'm not watching."

[thinkering]

"I could send it a bot and spy on it."

[mxglam]

They laugh. "Do that! And, erm, don't tell me what it's doing, that'll probably ruin the experiment."

[thinkering]

"Of course." A bot zooms off to chase the copy-Sadde.

[mxglam]

The copy is going to Sadde's room! It looks over its shoulder when it notices the bot approaching and asks, "What's up?"

[thinkering]

"I'm spying on you," says the bot.

[mxglam]

"Oh. What for?"

[thinkering]

"To see what you do when Glam's not watching."

[mxglam]

"Oh." Pause. "I think they'd probably ask a question now but I'm not sure what it is."

[thinkering]

"That's okay," says the bot.

[mxglam]

"Okay."

They reach Glam's room and start booting the computer. When it boots, the copy start composing the email.

[thinkering]

The bot sits on the copy and supervises.

[mxglam]

So the copy composes the email outlining the idea, and it looks very much like Glam was the one who did it, and hits send.

And then it - twiddles thumbs. It looks very much like a bored Glam who doesn't have a whole lot to do, in spite of having a computer in front of them.

[thinkering]

The bot watches patiently.

[mxglam]

Yup. Twiddling thumbs. The copy acts completely uninterestingly until it receives an email back, reads it, and starts back toward Lorica's workshop.

[thinkering]

The bot accompanies it.

[mxglam]

The copy has arrived, and becomes perceptibly livelier once inside!

"Branding says it's not a secret per se, but if you must include triggers in your account try not to scare the children and make some up that aren't very bad nor real. They also recommend trying to go the route of 'so you got new powers you didn't choose, what do' instead of mentioning triggers at all," the copy explains. "And they added a line wondering if you didn't want to take the chance to educate the kids on trans issues."

[thinkering]

"Might be easier to compose the latter presentation but there's less flashy special effects."

[mxglam]

"Also it's boring," Glam says grimacing.

Copy switches to becoming another Glam-spokesperson: "I don't want to do activism for trans stuff, especially given all the trouble this has given me."

Original: "And this may be a bit selfish, given that I kinda am in a uniquely, uh, privileged position for that, but."

[thinkering]

"Weren't you arguing about being a role model when you were trying to convince Yates?"

[mxglam]

"Yes, that was what I was arguing," Copy agrees.

"But I was just correctly predicting that associating Glam with a single gender would cause me dysphoria," Original completes.

"I mean, I do like being a role model, but I don't want this to be my point," the Copy adds, squirming a bit uncomfortably.

[thinkering]

"You're giving one presentation," says Lorica. "You don't have to be all about its topic. But obviously it's up to you."